Pilot pressure to fly led to deadly rescue flight

By Alan Levin, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON  A search-and-rescue mission to locate a lost hiker in the mountains above Santa Fe ended in tragedy two years ago because the New Mexico State Police pressured pilots to fly in dangerous situations and did not ensure that they got adequate rest, federal investigators ruled Tuesday.

The state police chopper that had been sent to rescue Megumi Yamamoto crashed after picking her up on June 9, 2009, as a storm enveloped the mountains. The helicopter struck a ridge and rolled 500 feet down a mountainside, killing her and the pilot, Sgt. Andy Tingwall. A spotter on board, officer Wesley Cox, survived.

"I was very troubled by this investigation and this report," said National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Debbie Hersman. "The organizational culture of the New Mexico State Police not only allowed, but encouraged, a single individual to conduct a high-risk mission without any semblance of a safety net in place."

The NTSB faulted Tingwall for his decision to lift off from a mountain landing zone as the weather worsened. He was not qualified to fly a helicopter in poor visibility and should have waited until the weather cleared.

The investigation also uncovered numerous safety deficiencies at the state police department that put pressure on him to fly, the NTSB said.

A previous chief pilot had been demoted after refusing to send an inexperienced crew on a search mission in a snowstorm, sending a message that missions should be done at all costs, the investigation found.

In addition to his pilot duties, Tingwall was assigned to answer calls from the news media on weekends, which made it difficult for him to get adequate rest. Two nights before the crash, he had slept no more than three hours because he took press calls late into the night and then rose before 3 a.m. to make a flight.

He had repeatedly asked to be relieved of his press duties, but was refused.

While the state police had restrictions on how many hours a pilot could fly, it did not have any limit on how many hours off were required between flights. The safety board found that his fatigue was one of the factors that contributed to the accident.

"He was working like a dog all the time," Hersman said.

The NTSB praised New Mexico authorities for putting in place new safety measures since the accident, but issued several recommendations calling on the state police to make further improvements.

"We don't need heroes to fly airplanes," said NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt. "When they try to be heroes, bad things happen. You can't save someone's life if you crash. And that's what happened here."

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